This is yet another reason why we should all be thinking long and hard about consolidating the school districts. This is not only untenable but it’s also unethical. This is PUBLIC SCHOOL. Every dollar spent should be considered with the students in mind. These people —admin leadership and BOE —are shysters. They are running our elementary school district into the ground.
For people opposed to consolidation, it should be noted that there are hybrid forms that could be implemented… A previous board looked into this in collaboration with Northwestern at one point. It’s doable. The overwhelming majority of school districts downstate are K through 12. This model that we have in Evanston is a relic that needs to be kicked to the curb asap. We are failing our kids.
We need to send the D65/D202 Boards to Ann Arbor and see a school district that does a good job tracking kids K-12 and also integrates deeply with the University.
Yes!! 100% —except that it would fall on deaf ears with the current BOE members (on both boards, frankly). Almost all are lame & uninterested in doing anything of significance. Almost all are uninterested in rep’ing the people who elected them, and most are incapable of pressing admins of both districts for better or ensuring accountability —for the betterment of the students they claim they care so much about. These BOE members understand very well that they live in a community of people who don’t care enough to pay attention and demand better… But yes —AA is a great model to study and understand what could be!! Why we don’t demand better in this town is beyond me.
But if this D65 Board and Admin was managing both it would be double trouble. Remember that Horton was at one point pushing for consolidation, but with the whole thing to be under him.
As a school social worker who has worked in many school districts I can tell you an administrator’ s job consists of sitting at their desks/computers, moving into rooms for meetings and talking on their phone. They are able to use the restroom when needed, they eat their lunch for however long they want and where they want and they have uninterrupted coffee breaks. Frequently I would pass by a teachers room and they would ask me to take over for a minute while they use the restroom. Their lunches are clocked. Their planning period is more prep time. After school they respond to many e mails An administrator never sees a student I hope when the teachers contract is due they will be given the appropriate raise. The Board has “ approved” a useless amount of administrators who are commanding a ridiculous amount of the budget. I will give the communication spokeswoman an A Plus for skirting every issue
I’ll tell you a funny/sad story to illustrate my point. I was seeing a second grade student in my room. He had an IEP for social work services for behavioral issues. Suddenly he grabbed a metal scissor from my desk and was trying to stick it in an outlet I was literally on the floor wrestling with him to prevent him from carrying out his attempt. Suddenly the Superintendent opened my door and said “ oh excuse me. Sorry “ and closed the door. He had wandered around the school without a clue where he was although a sign next to my door said Social Worker
This behavior is reprehensible! The entitlement it takes to charge your meals to the district while at the same time laying people off and discussing the closure of children’s home schools is staggering! How many staff people could they have kept if this money had not been spent in this selfish and frivolous manner?! This board shows us over and over that they have no ability to hold themselves or the administration to any kind of fiscal responsibility. 4 members of this board will be up for election in 2025. That is our chance to make our voices heard in a real way.
I believe that some -- not all -- of the food is for the Board and administrators when they have closed sessions before the board meetings---at dinner time. If the board meeting starts at 7:00, for instance, the closed session might start at 6:00 ---and some board members come directly from work. However, as a former employee, I can vouch for the fact that the Central Office administrators regularly ordered food when they held meetings during the workday.
Oh yes, I can confirm that a lot of the catering expenses are for board meetings or SAP committee meetings or whatever. But this is nuts! The City of Evanston has tons of meetings at dinner time, a $500 million dollar budget, and they don't serve catered meals for dinner time meetings. I'm sure it's a nice perk but like, no other public body that I know of does this
When I worked for a Fortune 100 company with millions in reserve, there were a few years we missed sales goals and the operating budget of the subsequent year was slashed. After one of those years, as a cost cutting measure, a decision was made not to have any catered food at regular staff meetings. If you wanted food for a meeting over the lunch hour, bring it. Exceptions were made for events like customer visits. After the year was up, that “no catered” food practice continued. I’m sure some complained. Most just realized how much money could be allocated elsewhere.
It’s not hard. Bring your own darn lunch or dinner to a meeting.
I spent a lot of time thinking about this, because I've worked in corporate settings with absurd amounts of free food (facebook) and even in my own business, I expense lunches once or twice a week.
The difference is that these are not funded by the taxpayers - the staffers probably don't want to hear this - but there's a certain frugality that comes with being a public servant. The taxpayers pay most of these admin staffers six figures, gives them generous pensions and healthcare and in return, we expect them to act in our best interest.
Again, no other local government does this - the City of Evanston does not order catering before council meetings and they have a vastly larger budget!
I feel like that corporate policy might be borderline parsimony, but at an organization operating with public dollars, this much spending is outrageous when coupled with the shortfall and other financial malfeasance that’s occurred. The occasional appreciation meal is expected. I’m not sure who thinks it’s ok to blow $500 on a meal at Coopers Hawk when parents are asked to supply Kleenex and cleaning supplies for a school. When will this city wake up? We need cleaning supplies all right- in the form of votes at the ballot box.
The administration is currently RIF'ing support folks left and right and in one case, RIF'ed someone without board approval and required them to reapply for their own job at entry level pay. While at the same time, as you mention, pissing away $500 at Coopers Hawk. This is no better than the Horton era, just not done under the guise of equity this time.
And just think about this: What do school lunches look like for the students? How many kids go without breakfast? How many reduced lunch kids get crappy alternative lunches when their families fall into arrears? And these grifters eat thru (literally) the school district bank account? Infuriating!
When I interned at Eastman Kodak when it was on a sharp downward slope financially, they eliminated company coffee, and I mean the inexpensive old-fashioned coffee pot. This was draconian and clearly solely for ‘optics’ to use corporate lingo. But it definitely sets the tone of austerity. I expect even D65 is now done with lunches as it is beyond ‘bad optics’ in the current financial state.
What would you rather have: 1. The higher ups stuffing themselves full of Panera bread bowls or 2. A couple of reading specialist positions?
I think we would all pick hearty bread bowls.
The bread bowls aren't even that good! At least get Bagel and Bialy or something!!
This is yet another reason why we should all be thinking long and hard about consolidating the school districts. This is not only untenable but it’s also unethical. This is PUBLIC SCHOOL. Every dollar spent should be considered with the students in mind. These people —admin leadership and BOE —are shysters. They are running our elementary school district into the ground.
For people opposed to consolidation, it should be noted that there are hybrid forms that could be implemented… A previous board looked into this in collaboration with Northwestern at one point. It’s doable. The overwhelming majority of school districts downstate are K through 12. This model that we have in Evanston is a relic that needs to be kicked to the curb asap. We are failing our kids.
We need to send the D65/D202 Boards to Ann Arbor and see a school district that does a good job tracking kids K-12 and also integrates deeply with the University.
Yes!! 100% —except that it would fall on deaf ears with the current BOE members (on both boards, frankly). Almost all are lame & uninterested in doing anything of significance. Almost all are uninterested in rep’ing the people who elected them, and most are incapable of pressing admins of both districts for better or ensuring accountability —for the betterment of the students they claim they care so much about. These BOE members understand very well that they live in a community of people who don’t care enough to pay attention and demand better… But yes —AA is a great model to study and understand what could be!! Why we don’t demand better in this town is beyond me.
But if this D65 Board and Admin was managing both it would be double trouble. Remember that Horton was at one point pushing for consolidation, but with the whole thing to be under him.
Oh it couldn’t be the d65 admin/BOE in charge—that is clear. That would mean ruin!
As a school social worker who has worked in many school districts I can tell you an administrator’ s job consists of sitting at their desks/computers, moving into rooms for meetings and talking on their phone. They are able to use the restroom when needed, they eat their lunch for however long they want and where they want and they have uninterrupted coffee breaks. Frequently I would pass by a teachers room and they would ask me to take over for a minute while they use the restroom. Their lunches are clocked. Their planning period is more prep time. After school they respond to many e mails An administrator never sees a student I hope when the teachers contract is due they will be given the appropriate raise. The Board has “ approved” a useless amount of administrators who are commanding a ridiculous amount of the budget. I will give the communication spokeswoman an A Plus for skirting every issue
I’ll tell you a funny/sad story to illustrate my point. I was seeing a second grade student in my room. He had an IEP for social work services for behavioral issues. Suddenly he grabbed a metal scissor from my desk and was trying to stick it in an outlet I was literally on the floor wrestling with him to prevent him from carrying out his attempt. Suddenly the Superintendent opened my door and said “ oh excuse me. Sorry “ and closed the door. He had wandered around the school without a clue where he was although a sign next to my door said Social Worker
This behavior is reprehensible! The entitlement it takes to charge your meals to the district while at the same time laying people off and discussing the closure of children’s home schools is staggering! How many staff people could they have kept if this money had not been spent in this selfish and frivolous manner?! This board shows us over and over that they have no ability to hold themselves or the administration to any kind of fiscal responsibility. 4 members of this board will be up for election in 2025. That is our chance to make our voices heard in a real way.
I believe that some -- not all -- of the food is for the Board and administrators when they have closed sessions before the board meetings---at dinner time. If the board meeting starts at 7:00, for instance, the closed session might start at 6:00 ---and some board members come directly from work. However, as a former employee, I can vouch for the fact that the Central Office administrators regularly ordered food when they held meetings during the workday.
Oh yes, I can confirm that a lot of the catering expenses are for board meetings or SAP committee meetings or whatever. But this is nuts! The City of Evanston has tons of meetings at dinner time, a $500 million dollar budget, and they don't serve catered meals for dinner time meetings. I'm sure it's a nice perk but like, no other public body that I know of does this
When I worked for a Fortune 100 company with millions in reserve, there were a few years we missed sales goals and the operating budget of the subsequent year was slashed. After one of those years, as a cost cutting measure, a decision was made not to have any catered food at regular staff meetings. If you wanted food for a meeting over the lunch hour, bring it. Exceptions were made for events like customer visits. After the year was up, that “no catered” food practice continued. I’m sure some complained. Most just realized how much money could be allocated elsewhere.
It’s not hard. Bring your own darn lunch or dinner to a meeting.
I spent a lot of time thinking about this, because I've worked in corporate settings with absurd amounts of free food (facebook) and even in my own business, I expense lunches once or twice a week.
The difference is that these are not funded by the taxpayers - the staffers probably don't want to hear this - but there's a certain frugality that comes with being a public servant. The taxpayers pay most of these admin staffers six figures, gives them generous pensions and healthcare and in return, we expect them to act in our best interest.
Again, no other local government does this - the City of Evanston does not order catering before council meetings and they have a vastly larger budget!
I feel like that corporate policy might be borderline parsimony, but at an organization operating with public dollars, this much spending is outrageous when coupled with the shortfall and other financial malfeasance that’s occurred. The occasional appreciation meal is expected. I’m not sure who thinks it’s ok to blow $500 on a meal at Coopers Hawk when parents are asked to supply Kleenex and cleaning supplies for a school. When will this city wake up? We need cleaning supplies all right- in the form of votes at the ballot box.
The administration is currently RIF'ing support folks left and right and in one case, RIF'ed someone without board approval and required them to reapply for their own job at entry level pay. While at the same time, as you mention, pissing away $500 at Coopers Hawk. This is no better than the Horton era, just not done under the guise of equity this time.
The current superintendent is showing all of us her true colors. The BOE failed the community/failed the kids of Evanston by hiring her.
Yeah I have to say I'm pretty disappointed. I thought at the bare minimum, the food thing would change.
And just think about this: What do school lunches look like for the students? How many kids go without breakfast? How many reduced lunch kids get crappy alternative lunches when their families fall into arrears? And these grifters eat thru (literally) the school district bank account? Infuriating!
When I interned at Eastman Kodak when it was on a sharp downward slope financially, they eliminated company coffee, and I mean the inexpensive old-fashioned coffee pot. This was draconian and clearly solely for ‘optics’ to use corporate lingo. But it definitely sets the tone of austerity. I expect even D65 is now done with lunches as it is beyond ‘bad optics’ in the current financial state.
You would expect that, but you would be sorely disappointed.
Yeah I expect zero change